means To pine is to ache with longing for something or someone absent or lost; as a noun, it's an evergreen coniferous tree with needle-like leaves and cones.

from Two different roots quietly share one spelling. The tree comes from Old English 'pin,' borrowed from Latin 'pinus,' the classical name for the pine. The verb 'pine' — to waste away with grief — comes from a separate path: Old English 'pinian,' meaning to torment or suffer, itself rooted in Latin 'poena,' punishment (the same ancestor as 'pain' and 'penalty'). So the longing kind of pining is, etymologically, a slow self-inflicted punishment — and its likeness to the tree is pure coincidence.